Drunken Monkey Posted September 29, 2003 Author Posted September 29, 2003 so where do the samurai and related things fit into this? post count is directly related to how much free time you have, not how intelligent you are."When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."
Kirves Posted September 30, 2003 Posted September 30, 2003 The samurai have nothing to do with Okinawan karate. The samurai studied what is known as "koryu bujutsu". This encompasses such arts as jujutsu, aikijujutsu, taijutsu and the various weapons arts like kenjutsu, iaijutsu, naginatajutsu and so forth. The samurai were professional warriors of the "bakufu" government of feudal Japan. All this has little to do with what the karateka did on Okinawa. Karate had basically no effect or relation with/to the samurai arts of mainland Japan.
Drunken Monkey Posted September 30, 2003 Author Posted September 30, 2003 so samurai had nothing/little to do with karate in general? post count is directly related to how much free time you have, not how intelligent you are."When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."
Sasori_Te Posted September 30, 2003 Posted September 30, 2003 Correct DM ...... Kirves has it right. The only time the samurai even interacted with Okinawans was when Japan occupied Okinawa for the last time. The Samurai made quick work of the resistnce in Okinawa. The Okinawan surender only took 2 months. The bladed weapons of the Japanese were too much for the Okinawans empty hand styles and simple farm implements. A block is a strike is a lock is a throw.
Drunken Monkey Posted September 30, 2003 Author Posted September 30, 2003 methinks i should get a book on okinawan/karate/japanese/martial arts history... anyone got any good recommendations? so, just correct me if i'm wrong here. karate is technically an okinawan thing (that derived from native arts and shaolin) it was "imported" to japan where they redefined its training to suit teaching to the masses (and/or for sport reasons) the move to japan was less than a hundred years ago. samurais have nothing to do with it. (following that, use of ninja's etc has nothing to do with it) the principle differences is in the training and different emphasis during training. okinawan WAS more on effectiveness+actual execution. japanese is more on the precision of execution (less on actual use, depending on the style) post count is directly related to how much free time you have, not how intelligent you are."When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."
Kirves Posted October 1, 2003 Posted October 1, 2003 methinks i should get a book on okinawan/karate/japanese/martial arts history... anyone got any good recommendations? Books by Pat McCarthy and Mark Bishop are the best ones on the subject of Okinawan karate.karate is technically an okinawan thing (that derived from native arts and shaolin) it was "imported" to japan where they redefined its training to suit teaching to the masses (and/or for sport reasons) the move to japan was less than a hundred years ago. Yes, yes and yes.
Jussi Häkkinen Posted October 1, 2003 Posted October 1, 2003 I could also recommend books from such individuals as Jamal Measara (Okinawa Dento Karate-Do), Shoshin Nagamine and Morio Higaonna. Jussi HäkkinenOkinawan Shorin-Ryu Seibukan Karate-Do (Kyan Chotoku lineage)TurkuFinland
Sasori_Te Posted October 1, 2003 Posted October 1, 2003 You can also try Don Draeger and George Alexander's books. They are both noted martial arts historians. A block is a strike is a lock is a throw.
Drunken Monkey Posted October 2, 2003 Author Posted October 2, 2003 um, thanks a lot guys. i'm a chinese guy so the chinese legends/myths/history have kinda been force fed into me but the japanese martial arts history has always eluded me and i never really knew where to start. i'll ask more questions when they pop up... post count is directly related to how much free time you have, not how intelligent you are."When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."
Kirves Posted October 3, 2003 Posted October 3, 2003 Yeah, Draeger's trilogy is great, because it goes through Japan's martial history in linear order, starting from the beginnings and coming all the way till the late 20th century. He doesn't touch much on the Okinawan martial history though, as Okinawa's martial history really is a story of it's own. Even though many view Okinawa and karate part of modern Japan, historically they were completely separate.
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